
Other names include the hay moon, after the July hay harvest. Some refer to this moon as the thunder moon, due to the summer storms in this month.
#Half harvest full
Male deer, which shed their antlers every year, begin to regrow them in July, hence the Native American name for July's full moon. Europeans have dubbed it the rose moon, while other cultures named it the hot moon for the beginning of the summer heat. In North America, the harvesting of strawberries in June gives that month's full moon its name. Other names include the hare moon, the corn planting moon, and the milk moon. Many cultures refer to May's full moon as the flower moon thanks to the abundant blooming that occurs as spring gets going properly. In other cultures, this moon is called the sprouting grass moon, the egg moon, and the fish moon. Northern Native Americans call April's full moon the pink moon after a species of early blooming wildflower. Other names include chaste moon, death moon, crust moon and sap moon, after the tapping of the maple trees. Native Americans called this last full moon of winter the worm moon after the worm trails that would appear in the newly thawed ground. Winter's Moon © Jessica Caterson, Astronomy Photographer of the Year Young Commended 2011 March: Worm Moon Storm moon and hunger moon are other common names. February: Snow Moonįebruary’s typically cold, snowy weather in North America earned its full moon the name snow moon. Other names for this month's full moon include old moon and ice moon. January's full moon is named after the howling of hungry wolves lamenting the scarcity of food in midwinter. These names were then adopted by the Colonial Americans and have entered popular culture below you can see a few alternatives alongside the most popular names for each month's full moon. The number of Moon names differs slightly from tribe to tribe, but many assign either 12 or 13 full moons to the year. Many of the Moon’s nicknames have come to us from Native American culture because for their way of life, the cycles of the lunar phases were just as important a method of timekeeping as the longer solar cycle of the year (from which the modern Gregorian calendar is derived). Over time, different cultures have given names to full moons across the lunar calendar. The crescent and gibbous Moons each last approximately a week. The full, quarter and new Moons are all the instants in time when the Moon is exactly fully, half or not at all illuminated from our perspective on Earth. The eight phases of the Moon in order are: These are the banana-shaped crescent Moon, the D-shaped quarter Moon and the almost complete gibbous Moon.įinally, each phase is also named after its position in the full 29.5 day cycle based on whether it is growing (waxing) or shrinking (waning). In between these, the Moon goes through multiple stages of partial illumination during its different phases. If the Moon is on the other side of the Earth compared to the Sun, then the near side of the Moon will be fully lit up: a full Moon. If the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun in its orbit, then the back side of the Moon is being lit up and the side facing the Earth is in darkness.

The only exception is during a lunar eclipse. The phases of the moon by James Reynolds (1846-1860)Īt almost all times, half of the Moon is being lit up by the Sun, but this need not be the half that is facing towards the Earth.
